Alexander Sokolov: I don't regard Art-Moscow as a directly commercial event since there is no developed art market to speak of in Moscow. One might assume, however, that you and other gallerists visit Moscow to make contacts for the future.

Hans Knoll: Although I wouldn't go to Moscow with exactly the same ideas as to Art Cologne, I have a definite conception of what any art fair must be. Essentially an art fair is a place where art is sold - a place that attracts, even educates an audience. That is the nature of all art fairs. The central aspect of getting art into private collections should always be kept in sight. People that visit art fairs should be invited to buy art - through a certain professionalism of presentation, through the artworks and the fair itself. Many eastern European art fairs are overloaded with side-events and run the danger of pushing the actual idea of an art fair into the background. In such cases gallerists, Moscow gallerists included, will ask why they should come in the first place. One can't forget that the entrance fee for foreign galleries is around 6000 dollars. At least the perspective and the goal of the fair must be to sell art.

AS: Fairs such as Cologne are already well established. One knows what to expect. As to Russia, I think that one has to educate the audience first. Not only through the galleries presenting 'cool' booths, but also through the smooth running of events, through information management, and through the mass media.

HK: The same principles count for the art fair in Cologne. People go there for the events and for the appeal of the exhibition as whole. But how can you educate the public to buy art when all one is offered is documentation, various discussions, performances, etc.? In this way you only educate the audience to consume art, that is, to merely observe it.

AS: During an exhibition of mine in Norway I was told that I shouldn't expect to sell anything. It was said that Norwegian collectors buy mainly Norwegian artists, as otherwise no one would collect Norwegian art. This goes to show that behind the global market there is something like a local art market. In the 70's German art was brought to America, and one couldn't tell the difference between German artists and, for example, de Kooning. However, one did know that there was German money behind this. I think that all artists, also Russian artists, need the backing of their local market. This is why I suggested the theme "global/local" for the conference to take place in the frame of Art-Moscow this year.

HK: In 1989 I invited Joseph Kosuth - who strongly influenced Conceptual Art in Eastern and Central Europe in the 70's and asked him to make a print. Each piece was sold at the cost of 1000 in the buyer's respective currency. We had Hungarians, Slovaks and Poles, but also Italians and Austrians which came to buy - for 1000 Schilling, 1000 Zloty, 1000 Forint, 1000 Crowns, and so on. You say that art has to have money behind it. I would say, that art has to stand in relationship to the economic reality of the respective environment. This relationship must be such that the artist sets his prices with respect to the environment he is currently developing in, and that the works are buy-able in this context. New York prices are what count for a Russian artist living in New York. Once you could buy Baselitz for a couple hundred marks. The drawings of the Hungarian artist Rosa El-Hassan cost 100 DM in Hungary as well as Austria, and even in Cologne. She is now one of the few eastern/central European artists who has succeeded in gaining a foothold in the so-called Western business. Moscow artists shouldn't look to New York, Berlin or Vienna, but rather adapt their price-level to Moscow. That would improve the operation of the art market.

AS: What do you expect of Art-Moscow?

HK: Of course I hope that my gallery will sell something - if not this year, then in five or in 50 years - possibly in some other place. I believe that many projects that one does as an artist or as a gallery work not only linearly or locally, but also have an over-regional effect. An exhibition here today might have an effect somewhere else in two years time. This is why I see the work of my gallery as a commitment to a larger whole.

AS: Which artists will you be showing?

HK: International artists. My exhibition of Alexander Brener's drawings - the works contained Russian curse words, sexist and erotic insinuations - turned into a scandal at Art-Moscow two years ago. (By the way Brener was exhibited next to Tony Cragg.) A lot of people, mainly Russians, approached me to complain this was not art. Among other things, this is actually what Brener is trying to achieve. People react to his work. So in this case, a so-called eastern work is brought back to Moscow and causes a very strong response.

AS: What are you planning for this year?

HK: Our gallery organises guided tours and art-related excursions. This year we recommend a trip to Art-Moscow. When we first planned this one year ago numerous collectors, curators, critics and art historians declared their interest. They were not only from Austria, but also from Hungary and Germany (the latter in co-ordination with the Paula Böttcher Galerie in Berlin). I am putting out this year's programme for Moscow soon and I am expecting a lively response. The trip includes visits to Moscow museums, institutions and galleries. We will facilitate meetings with Moscow's art world - curators, critics, gallerists, and artists - possibly also in co-ordination with the Art-Moscow administration. Those that have shown an interest are people who don't hesitate to buy something every once in a while. Of course this isn't a guarantee that there will be great acquisitions in Moscow - but you never know. I certainly hope that a lot will happen. One should never forget, however, that an art fair should first produce the stimulus, and then provide the vehicle to sell art.

The editorial board of FUSION (http://fusion.ok-centrum.at) is located in the OK-Centrum for Contemporary Art, Linz in the context of the show "Social Machine - Money" until 3^rd March. It will take up its work in Moscow as part of Art-Moscow, the international art fair, from mid-March until the end of May 2000.